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\n
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The Florica estate is located around 100 kilometers north-west
\nof Bucharest. It is one of the best-known such estates across the country.
\nProof of that stands the personality of those who created the estate and lived
\nthere afterwards. We’re speaking about the Bratianu family. It is a most
\ndistinguished family, which for two generations had been actively taking part
\nin the making of modern Romania. Ion C. Br\u0103tianu and his
\nbrother, Dumitru, were members of the generation of the 1848 Revolution, also
\ncontributing to Moldavia’s Union with Wallachia in 1859. Their sons, Ion I. C. Bratianu,
\nDinu Bratianu and Vintila Bratianu, were leading representatives of the 1918
\ngeneration, which among other things, had an important contribution to the
\nemergence of Greater Romania.<\/p>\n
\n
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The
\norigin of the Florica estate has a story behind it. Historian Narcis-Dorin Ion documented that story. The
\nfoundation of the estate was laid by Dinca Bratianu, the father of the future
\ngreat politician Ion
\nI.C Bratianu. Ion I.C Bratianu inherited the Florica and Samburesti estates. Back in the day
\nIon I.C Bratianu also bought the adjoining vineyard, known as Floreasca. The
\nvineyard would be Ion I. C Bratianu’s concern until he died, it was the vineyard he would
\ntend to and exploit. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Historian Narcis Dorin Ion:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ion C.
\nBr\u0103tianu would build a first house in Florica in 1858, and here is how his
\nnephew, the poet Ion Pillat, reminisced about it, in 1943:’ on the old cellar
\nand wine-cellar of the Brancoveanu vineyard, later the property of Dinca Bratianu, his son, Ion C Bratianu,
\nwould build a simple, two-storey winegrower’s house, which also had an open
\nterrace, back then. The gazebo remained in
\na primitive state until the old man’s death. That house in Florica, an old one,
\nwhere I also spent part of my childhood, there was something quiet and
\ntraditional about it, something that never vanished form my soul.’ <\/p>\n
\n
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Initially,
\nthe house was a modest lodging placed in the middle of the vineyard. From a
\nthree-room house and a wine cellar, in time, Ion I.C. Bratianu built a storied
\nmansion and an open terrace. In August 1865, the house in Florica had ten
\nrooms, but Bratianu was well aware of the fact that the lodgings still failed
\nto provide the amenities he would have liked for his family, which had many
\nchildren, all of them living in Bucharest. In 1877 the Florica railway station
\nwas inaugurated, so travelling form the capital city Bucharest became a lot
\neasier. <\/p>\n
\n
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Historian Narcis-Dorin Ion describes the house that
\nwas substantially refurbished by Pia and her husband, Ion I. C. Bratianu:<\/p>\n
\n
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In a letter he sent to his wife,
\nPia, in 1871, Bratianu describes the home in Florica as follows: ‘then I calmed
\ndown and I got myself seated in the smaller parlor. The room seemed big to me.
\nFrom the little parlor, when I look at the great parlor, I felt as if I were
\nsomewhere in the palaces in Germany which, being deserted, seemed to me the
\nmost spacious I had ever seen.’. <\/p>\n
\n
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Whenever
\nhe had his short holidays in Florica, Bratianu liked to be there all by
\nhimself, with his thoughts and with the passion he had for the vineyard and the animals. In 1869, Bratianu confessed to his wife about what that place meant
\nfor him, ‘it is the sheer sweetness of a home, since it is only here
\nthat I feel I am at home, with us. In Bucharest, despite all the amenities we
\nhave there, I feel like I am in a high-standard hotel, but nothing more than
\nthat.’ <\/p>\n
\n
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As
\nlong as he was still alive, the house had an austere style, imposed by his
\nsimple taste. Towards the end of his life, his son, Ionel, found it really hard
\nto persuade him to make some changes, since Ionel was so passionate about
\nconstructions. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Narcis-Dorin Ion: <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The great changes would occur in 1905-1912 and 1924-1925,
\nfollowing architect Petre Antonescu’s plans. To this day, thanks to their
\nlavish interior decoration, the bookcases can still impress visitors. The early
\ndays of the library in Florica are also linked to Ion I. C Bratianu, the one
\nwho had the first bookcase built on the premises. The first books in the
\nlibrary were purchased by Bratianu, from Paris. It was also the old man who
\ncompiled the first catalogue of that rich library, which proudly included
\nbibliophile copies coming from the libraries of his friends in politics, C.
\nA. Rosetti, Cezar Bolliac, Alexandru Papiu-Ilarian, as well as his brother, Dumitru
\nBr\u0103tianu.<\/p>\n
\n
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<\/p>\n
Ion
\nC. Br\u0103tianu also had a park built, which he names Semiramis’ Gardens, since the
\nplanting of trees was also one of his hobbies. Apart from the house, the
\nvineyard and the park, on the estate, Ion C Bratianu had also set up a farm and
\nhad a church built there. It was in the church that he was buried,
\nalongside his first child, a girl, Florica, who died at the tender age of 3. Four
\nof Bratianu’s eight children got married on the Bratianu estate. They were
\nSabina, Maria, Vintila and Tatiana. The place
\nwas visited by many personalities of that time, among them King Carol I, his
\nwife Elisabeth and prince heir, the future King Ferdinand I. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Historian Narcis-Dorin
\nIon:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Quite telling for the modesty in which the late 19th
\ncentury’s most prominent politician lived are his and his wife’s room, kept in
\nmint condition, also as a result of the mansion’s thoroughgoing refurbishment
\nand extension works initiated by Ionel Bratianu. For the family’s elder son, so
\npassionate about the study of history, those rooms already had a historic
\nvalue, being presented to the high-brow guests of the mansion as some sort of
\nfamily museum, something the contemporaries held in high esteem. ‘Daddy’s room
\nhad remained intact as a historical monument, in the cupboard the clothes he
\nwore for the last time had been neatly arranged, as well as his Junker’s
\nuniform and ma’s engagement dress. His bathroom, simple as it was, had remained
\nintact. Ionel’s cult for daddy had been so very uncompromising’, recalled the
\ndaughter, Sabina Cantacuzino.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
To this day, Florica estate has remained a Romanian heritage element in its own right. It is a tourist asset, also facilitating a trip down the
\nmemory lane. <\/p>\n
(Translation by Eugen Nasta)<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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